Various attempts have been made to satisfy a desire to have more delicious foods. As one of these attempts, there has been known a method wherein various compounds are preliminarily blended with a food to give a favorable taste at taking the food. For example, Document 1 discloses a technique of adding protamine and/or its salt to a drink to eliminate or lessen its bitterness or astringency, while Document 2 proposes to add a water-extract of coffee beans to relieve the sourness of a food or a drink containing organic acids. Moreover, Document 3 reports that the characteristic taste of a souring agent can be improved by adding water-soluble dietary fiber to the souring agent. Although these methods are somewhat efficacious in lessening astringency or bitterness or relieving sourness, little effect of enhancing the inherent taste of a food can be achieved thereby.
To solve this problem, Document 4 discloses a technique of extracting fresh vanilla pots with a polar solvent and adding the thus obtained extract to various foods or drinks. However, the above-described problem cannot be sufficiently solved even by this technique.
Furthermore, there has been required to develop a material of improved performance of not only enhancing the characteristic taste of a food or a drink but also being nondetrimental to the environment and humans.
Document 1:
Japanese Patent No. 3133182.
Document 2:
JP-A-9-94080.
Document 3:
JP-A-2001-133.
Document 4:
JP-A-8-154619.
An object of the present invention is to provide a taste enhancer having an excellent effect of enhancing the taste of a food, a drink or a composition for the oral cavity and to provide a taste enhancing method. Another object of the present invention is to provide a taste enhancer which is friendly to the environment and humans. The term “taste enhancer” as used herein, which is a so-called flavor enhancer, is a compound having no excellent taste per se but exerting an effect of further enhancing the taste of a tasty compound, food, drink or composition for the oral cavity coexisting therewith.